Five charged with planning attacks on Jews at Temple Mount

JERUSALEM — Five residents of eastern Jerusalem were charged with planning a shooting attack on the Temple Mount.

The Palestinian men, ages 20 to 25, were charged with attempted kidnapping, attempted murder, aiding the enemy at a time of war, contact with a foreign agent and weapons charges, according to Ynet.

The indictment filed against the men in Jerusalem District Court said they planned to kill Jewish worshipers at the Temple Mount and to throw a grenade into the Israel Police station in eastern Jerusalem, as well as kidnap a Jewish man and kill him with his own weapon. The indictment said they abducted a Jewish man hitchhiking near Givat Zeev last month but released him since he did not carry any firearms.

The men, who met several times in February and March, had turned to terror groups in the West Bank and Gaza for weapons and explosives training, according to the indictment.

They have been remanded to police custody for the duration of their trials.